News 

Carr will succeed current FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel in January 

President-elect Donald Trump has named Brendan Carr as the next Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), succeeding Jessica Rosenworcel. 

Republican Commissioner Carr was was appointed to the FCC by then-President Donald Trump in 2017, after serving as the agency’s general counsel since 2012.  

With a background in telecommunications law, Carr’s career has see him be a major advocate for rural broadband expansion, 5G deployment, and deregulating the telecoms industry. He is also a notable opponent of net neutrality, which was reinstated by the FCC earlier this year. 

Big Tech will also likely be in the firing line under a Carr-led FCC. Carr has repeatedly pushed for reforms to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from liability for user content, whilst simultaneously accusing these platforms of censoring Americans.  

In addition to regulatory reform, Carr also wants tech companies such as Google and Facebook to contribute financially to the Universal Service Fund, which supports broadband development in underserved communities.  

Carr’s overall approach to telecoms regulation can be seen most clearly in the chapter he contributed to Project 25, a policy initiative spearheaded by conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation that provides blueprint for radically reshaping the federal government. In his penned chapter, Carr emphasised that the FCC’s goals should be to: 

– Rein in Big Tech, 

– Promote national security, 

– Unleash economic prosperity, and 

– Ensure FCC accountability and good governance. 

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” said Trump in a statement. 

Carr’s leadership is expected to mark a stark contrast to Rosenworcel’s, emphasising deregulation and market-driven solutions over government intervention.  

Rosenworcel, the FCC’s first female Chair and a Democrat, has led the agency since 2021. Her tenure focused on consumer advocacy and digital equity, prioritising programmes to expand affordable broadband access and close the digital divide. She championed initiatives like the Affordable Connectivity Program and strengthened net neutrality protections. 

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Also in the news:
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BT says Labour’s budget will cost company £100m
Vodafone Spain and Telefonica complete FibreCo deal

Customers of Sky (Sky TV, Sky Broadband etc.) may like to know that the media giant has today announced an extension of their long-term collaboration with Amazon, which will see ‘Prime Video’ apps and related content continue to be available on Sky devices (e.g. Sky Q, Sky Glass, Sky Stream etc.).

Nick Herm, Sky’s Chief Business Officer, said: “At Sky, we want to provide people with the aggregation platform of choice that brings them with all their favourite apps and channels in one place. We’re delighted to renew our partnership with Prime Video so that Sky customers can continue to enjoy its award-winning content across all of our devices.”

The extension agreement applies to Sky’s outlets in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

Broadband ISP Virgin Media (O2) has today released a progress update on their Digital Landline Switchover (DLS) programme (i.e. migrating old analogue landline phones to IP-based services). This revealed some positive results from their recent trial with the telecare advisory body, TSA, which provided enhanced support to telecare users.

Just to recap. The United Kingdom is home to around 1.8 million people who use telecare devices / alarms in the UK (e.g. elderly, disabled, and vulnerable people), many of which are located in rural and isolated areas. Sadly, a lot of those telecare systems haven’t yet been updated to work with the newer Internet Protocol (IP) based voice / phone services, which is despite the telecare industry having plenty of years to prepare.

Virgin Media responded to this in early September by launching a 10-week trial alongside the TSA (here), which among other things saw them working with the Stockport-based telecare provider, Carecall, to offer dedicated support to telecare users as their services are migrated.

The trial itself essentially made it easier to identify telecare customers (i.e. not all such users have informed ISPs of their status), as well as offering targeted communications / support and also provided joint visits with teams from both Virgin Media and Carecall (e.g. checking devices are working as they should and fixing problems etc.). This is said to have been a “phenomenal success“.

Gareth Lister, Director of Customer Products at VMO2, said:

“The trial was a phenomenal success with 90% of customers agreeing to migration appointments, and almost all (96%) being migrated successfully.

Importantly, of the 191 customers identified through the data share, 31 had not previously been identified by Virgin Media O2 as telecare users. This is despite a review of all call records from Carecall’s alarm receiving centre (ARC).

Carecall’s analysis showed that these customers were all using digital SIM-based telecare devices (operating independently from Virgin Media O2’s telephony service) which explains why no ARC call records were detected.

So, without the data sharing agreement, these 31 customers would not have received the extra support wrapper of the trial.

Together, we learnt a lot about how we can best support telecare customers to engage with the essential migration and illustrated what can be achieved in partnership.”

The operator is now “looking to carry out further trials in other parts of the country” and, as part of that, they’ve run a series of workshops with local authorities and telecare alarm providers – attended by around 40 organisations from across the country – “where we’ve shared our learnings and sought views on how this approach could be adapted for them.”

During this process, Virgin Media has also written again to every local authority they operate in, encouraging others to follow in Stockport Homes’ footsteps by establishing similar data-sharing agreements. But the broadband and phone provider warns that “more than a hundred local authorities” have either not yet formed a data agreement or didn’t even respond to their letters.

Suffice to say, Virgin Media has once again reiterated their call for the Government to establish a ‘Telecare Charter‘, which they say must “clearly set out a range of commitments for the telecare sector and local authorities which requires them to work with our industry to ensure nobody is left behind“. On the other hand, while all of this work is good, it’s still something that both the telecare and telecoms industries should have started years ago.

Meanwhile, Openreach is doing something similar to the aforementioned trial via their own Prove Telecare Trial, which started at the end of July 2024. The old phone networks were originally supposed to be completely switched off by the end of 2025, although vulnerable users were recently given more time by BT and Openreach – the deadline for migration in related households has been extended to 31st Jan 2027 (here and here).

UK ISP Hey! Broadband, which caters for homes covered by F&W Networks‘ (Fibre and Wireless) new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network – mostly across the South East of England, has today announced that new customers will be able to get 50% off the price of their 900Mbps full fibre packages during the Black Friday period.

Customers of the service typically pay from £43 per month for their top 900Mbps (symmetric) package, which compares with £33 for 400Mbps and then £23 for 150Mbps on a 24-month term (includes a router and free installation). But the new Black Friday deal cuts the price of their 900Mbps plan to just £21.50 for the full term, although this offer is only available to take until 8th December 2024.

F&WN has so far managed to extend their full fibre broadband infrastructure to cover 410,000 UK premises RFS (Feb 2024 data) across various towns in London, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and West Sussex. The operator’s network has also managed to grow their customer base to over 25,000 (August 2024 data).

The Telcom Group, which operates a mix of fixed wireless access (FWA) and gigabit-capable “full fibre” broadband and Ethernet networks across England via its various sub-brands (ClearFibre, WeFibre, HyperCity etc.), has this morning announced that they’re re-branding to Elevate following a year of growth, consolidation and integration.

The group indicates that the change reflects the culmination of their 12-month plan to integrate Telcom Networks, its wholesale initiative GigaBritain and London based ISP Luminet (acquired last October). Not to mention all B2B divisions, which deliver end-to-end network solutions including connectivity, cyber security and wider managed network services.

The result should, they say, be a more streamlined and seamless customer experience that will also benefit from the investments the operator has been making into their internal systems, as well as integrated customer portals. As part of this rebrand and integration, the wholesale division serving 300+ partners will now operate under Elevate Wholesale.

Elliott Mueller, Group CEO, said:

“We have spent the last year listening to our customers, partners & teams. As our business continues to scale at pace underpinned by our total commitment to provide our customers with the best possible service, I am immensely proud of the team that has worked to deliver the Elevate experience which we believe will be the benchmark for direct and channel partners expectations in delivery and after sale service.

Our channel partners are a key component in our growth strategy where the requirements to successfully deliver and support connectivity and aligned components in partner led, mission critical solutions. These partnerships are essential in building long term relationships. Elevate is now fully equipped to deliver our channel proposition under the Elevate Wholesale banner and looks forward to an exciting 2025 for the group.”

News

NASA has collaborated with Microsoft to develop ‘Earth Copilot’, an AI-powered tool designed to make data discovery more straightforward. Built using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, the tool allows users to interact with NASA’s datasets through plain language queries.

For example, instead of navigating technical systems, users can ask questions such as, “How did Hurricane Ian affect Sanibel Island?” and quickly receive relevant information.

NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems Program collects a vast array of data from satellites, covering everything from atmospheric conditions to ocean temperatures. However, accessing and analysing this complex data has often required technical expertise, creating barriers for many potential users, which has led to the AI partnership.

The project integrates Microsoft’s AI and cloud technologies with NASA’s existing data platform, VEDA. The setup streamlines the search and analysis process, enabling researchers, policymakers, and educators to access insights more efficiently.

“We’ve designed the system to handle complex queries and large datasets efficiently, ensuring that users can quickly find the information they need without getting bogged down by technical complexities. Our goal was to create a seamless, scalable solution that could evolve as NASA’s data, tools and applications grow,” said Juan Carlos López, former NASA engineer and current Azure Specialist at Microsoft in a press release.

The broader aim of this partnership is to make NASA’s data accessible to a wider audience. For example, climate scientists can analyse trends more easily, agricultural specialists can monitor soil moisture, and teachers can use the data to engage students in real-world science. Minh Nguyen, a Microsoft Cloud Solution Architect, noted that opening up access to this data can help underserved communities use it to address local challenges.

Currently, Earth Copilot is being tested internally by NASA researchers. Once fully developed, the tool will support NASA’s Open Science initiative, which aims to make scientific research more inclusive and transparent. By simplifying access to Earth Science data, this collaboration has the potential to broaden its impact across various fields.

Keep up to date with the latest international telecoms news by subscribing to the Total Telecom daily newsletter   

Also in the news:
Verizon extends US defence contract in $98m deal
Top 5 stories from Broadband Communities last week
UScellular sells spectrum to AT&T for $1 billion

Infracapital-backed network builder and UK ISP Ogi, which is rolling out a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across South Wales (100,000 premises are already covered / RFS), has today introduced Black Friday discounts across their broadband packages and simultaneously launched their new referral programme.

Firstly, in terms of the referral programme, Ogi states that existing customers will be able to earn £40 for each introduction – unlocking up to 10 rewards a year every time a new sign-up is successful.

As for the Black Friday discounts, the provider says that it’s doubling the speed of their £15 a month entry-level package from 200Mbps to 400Mbps on a 12-month term for new customers (setup is also free). Plus, if they sign up through an introduction, they’ll receive a £40 referral voucher too. The “Black Fibre Friday” event package also includes two Amazon eero routers at no extra cost.

The special offer will be available to order until 2nd December 2024.

ISPreview has long had a social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (X), where we engage with readers, industry figures and share our daily news. But this is just a quick note to say that in recent months we’ve expanded and can now also be found on Bluesky, Mastodon and Threads.net. The downside is that a lot of telecoms operators have yet to establish themselves on these new pastures, which we hope will change.

A couple of weeks ago ISPreview reported on how mobile operator O2 (Virgin Media) had withdrawn their Pay As You Go (PAYG) Data and iPad SIMs (mobile broadband) from sale to new customers (here). But the big change this week is that they’ve now informing existing customers of their plan to close the service by 31st January 2025.

The Data SIMs allowed customers to choose from a selection of plans, each with a different allowance and expiry period. For example, you could pay £3 for 1GB (GigaByte) but that had to be used within a 24-hour period, or alternatively you’d pay £10 for 2GB lasting 90 days, then £20 for 8GB lasting 90 days or £30 for 12GB that lasted for 12-months.

The plans had some advantages for those who only needed infrequent access to data, and you can still buy preloaded O2 data SIMs via Amazon. But by modern standards they perhaps weren’t particularly good value for money, and these days data-only SIMs can also feel a bit redundant (i.e. it’s often cheaper to simply buy a regular mobile SIM and just not use the calls/texts side).

However, one of our readers, Julian, has now informed us that O2 have just sent the following message to existing users of these plans, which sets a clear end date for the service itself and only a few short months after they withdrew the SIMs from sale to new customers.

Copy of O2’s Customer Email

Closing down our Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband & iPad product

We’re sorry to let you know that we’re removing our Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband & iPad services from our portfolio on 31 January 2025.

Our customer account management portal will be closing on 17 December 2024 so if you want to check your remaining allowances, please do this before 17 December 2024.

You can continue to use your service until 31 January 2025, after which time your service shall cease. As you are a Pay As You Go customer, you’re able to leave your service at any time with no Early Termination Charges. In order to obtain a refund for any data not used on your account, you’ll need to call O2 customer services on 0344 8090222 to provide your contact details so we can process your refund request.

If you’re interested in alternative plans for iPad, tablets and mobile broadband, please click here to discover our great value Pay Monthly SIMs instead.

Thanks,
O2

The move will naturally have the biggest impact upon those who spent more to adopt one of their longest plans, such as the £30 for 12GB plan that lasts for 12-months. But instead of simply allowing existing customers to use up their data by the original expiry date, O2 has decided on a hard deadline and forced those users to phone them in order to get a refund. Not exactly the best approach to customer service, and O2 still hasn’t explained why they’re doing this.

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency made a change this week that has re-opened their Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) for parts of Derbyshire in England, which means that local homes and businesses in poorly served rural areas can apply for grants worth up to £7,500 to help get a much faster broadband ISP network installed.

Just to recap. The GBVS usually only offers grants worth up to £4,500 to help rural premises get a gigabit-capable broadband (1Gbps) ISP service installed, which is available to areas with speeds of “less than 100Mbps” – assuming there are also no near-term plans for a gigabit deployment in the same area (either via private investment or state-aid).

However, the GBVS has been operating with a very low level of UK availability for the past year (i.e. it’s not currently available to most counties), which is largely so that it avoids conflicting (i.e. duplicating / wasting public investment) with Project Gigabit’s larger Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy (GIS) programme (i.e. the big build contracts that have been awarded to operators like Fibrus, Openreach, Wessex Internet and many others).

The good news this week is that BDUK updated their GBVS availability page to re-add “Derbyshire (partial areas)” back into the table, which is currently listing two voucher suppliers for that area – Openreach and E-volve (suppliers vary by region). Similarly, Thinkbroadband has spotted a press release from the local authority (here), which confirms that they’ve provided top-up funding to boost the value of local vouchers up to £7.5k, enabling them to reach even deeper into rural areas.

Councillor Carolyn Renwick said:

“We are committed to improving broadband access, speed and reliability for homes and businesses across the county and particularly in rural areas.

Residents and businesses are relying on the internet more than ever before and we’re continuing to play a key role in helping to deliver next-generation broadband to make sure local people can continue to operate and engage in an ever-changing digital world.

A number of Derbyshire communities have already benefitted from the voucher scheme and this new ‘top-up’ funding means more homes and businesses in the hardest to reach locations of Derbyshire can take advantage of the scheme.”

The only uncertainly is around the use of that “partial areas” language, as it’s not immediately clear how BDUK and the local authority are defining the limitations for this. In theory, we should start to see more areas re-opening for vouchers, particularly as it becomes clearer which contracted build areas will be reached via the GIS programme and which will not.